The present application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/053,283 titled xe2x80x9cSYSTEM AND METHOD FOR POSITIONING AN ELECTRONIC PORTAL IMAGING DEVICE,xe2x80x9d filed concurrently.
The present invention relates to a radiation emitting device, and more particularly, to a system and method for evaluating beam quality during therapy using electronic portal imaging.
Radiation emitting devices are generally known and used, for instance, as radiation therapy devices for the treatment of patients. A radiation therapy device generally includes a gantry which can be swiveled around a horizontal axis of rotation in the course of a therapeutic treatment. A linear accelerator is located in the gantry for generating a high energy radiation beam for therapy. This high energy radiation beam can be an electron beam or photon (X-ray) beam. During treatment, this radiation beam is trained on one zone of a patient lying in the isocenter of the gantry rotation.
One step in treatment planning is the characterization of all beams produced by the linear accelerator or commissioning of the treatment machine. This typically involves establishment of beam data tables for the machine using an ionization chamber and a water phantom. The beam data includes relative beam profiles and absolute dosimetric quantities under varying machine conditions (e.g., field sizes, energies, beam modifiers, dose rates, setup conditions, etc.). Once the data have been collected, they are used to set up the beam data tables and input to commission the treatment planning computer used for dose calculations.
A radiation therapy device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a linear accelerator for providing radiation to a body; and an electronic portal imaging device operably coupled to the linear accelerator. The electronic portal imaging device is adapted for use in commissioning the radiation therapy device and adapted for use in dosimetry applications during therapy